EP0263244B1 - Apparatus for the electronic testing of printed circuits with contact points in an extremely fine raster (1/20th to 1/10th inch) - Google Patents

Abstract

A circuit board testing device with a plurality of contact points (4) arranged in the plane of the contact field (2) of the device, which are connected to an electronic drive and measuring device and can be connected via test pins (6), which are rigid in the longitudinal direction, to the contact points of the wiring carriers/circuit boards (8) to be tested, the contact points being elastically supported in the circuit board testing device and are pressed against the contact pressure to be applied, the contact points (4) being constructed as electrically conductive compression springs (28) which are arranged in holes (25) of a spring contact field body (26) of electrically insulating material and against which the rigid test pins (6) are directly pressed. The invention provides that the spring contact field body (26) is constructed of segments which can be joined together in a row and that areas of different density of connection of contact points (4) exist in the contact field plane (2), the areas being mutually interchangeable depending on the requirements of the circuit board (8) to be tested. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a device for the electronic testing of printed circuit boards according to the preamble of claim 1 and independent claim 2.

In principle, such a device is described by AW Till in the publication IBM Techinal Disclosure Bulletin Vol. 16, No. 10, March 1974, S, 3224125 under the title "Contact Probe", but no electronic control and measuring device as used in the present invention is not mentioned.

Due to the increasing urge to miniaturize, but also because of the associated more cost-effective production, manufacturers around the world are increasingly turning to electronic assemblies with the Build circuit boards that have contact points or contact fields with a grid size of 1/20 inches and up to 1/100 inches. Here, so-called SMD technology (surface mounted devices) is largely used, in which the connecting wires or lugs of the individual electronic components are no longer connected to possibly plated through holes of multilayer printed circuit boards, but to connection zones (pads).

Since the realization has prevailed that bare boards without bare boards have to be checked for functionality before being fitted with electronic components to ensure that no more and no less than all the desired connections are available, this results for the manufacturers of circuit board testers the need to offer devices with which printed circuit boards of almost any size and configuration can be easily tested in a 1/20 inch contact point grid and well below.

DE-PS 33 40 180 describes a contact field arrangement for computer-controlled printed circuit board testers in a 1/10 inch contact point grid. The contact field is divided into contact field sections, each of which is releasably supported against a base plate by means of longer support struts. The space thus created is used to accommodate these contact field sections associated electronic components are used, which are connected via a plug connection to the two-dimensional control circuit on the base plate. These "contact field modules" components are identical to each other and interchangeable with respect to the respective places on the base plate. This concept creates a printed circuit board tester that, despite a very large contact field in the basic concept (for example 256 contacts each in the X and Y directions) can be operated with little electronics and can be easily retrofitted.

The basic aim of the present invention is to implement this concept even with a contact point grid of 1/20 inch and below. It is possible to use a so-called "reduction adapter" (DE-PS 33 40 179) which up to 64,000 contact points of the 1/10 output grid of this contact field arrangement for all approximately 64,000 contact points in the X and Y direction of the contact field on a grid of Reduce 1/20 inch, but only at the price of a 50% reduction in the maximum allowable PCB dimensions in both directions.

With the implementation of the principle of the circuit board tester of DE-PS 33 40 180 in the contact point grid 1/20 inch (equal to 1.27 mm) that is required, one at least apparently encounters limits of miniaturization, as they should be shown in the following. It should be noted here that these limits also arise from the cost side. In a circuit board tester with a contact field arrangement according to DE-PS 33 40 180, the mechanical contacting of the contact points of the circuit board to be tested and the contact points of the contact field grid of the circuit board tester is carried out using test needles, each of which has a contact tip that is resilient in the longitudinal direction. With the conventional contact point distance of 2.54 mm, these resilient test pins are still relatively simple and inexpensive to produce, but problems arise increasingly if a contact point distance of 1.27 mm is prescribed, ie if this test pin has a diameter of about 0.8 mm can be granted. Such thin test pins bend, for example, with the lowest transverse forces and are therefore unusable. In addition, because of the necessary mechanical complexity, such test pins with a resilient contact tip can only be produced at cost costs, which can become a considerable problem in view of the maximum number of such test pins required. Where, with the same external dimensions of the contact field arrangement in the previous contact point grid 1/10 inch = 2.54 mm, there were a maximum of around 64,000 contact points and therefore a corresponding number of test pins were required, with a contact point distance of 1.27 mm up to 256,000 Contact points possible within the same outer contact field dimensions. It is obvious that with the very large number of test pins that may be required, the costs for a single test pin can be very significant and perhaps decisive for the purchase. It is therefore essential to make the principle of contacting the individual “contact field modules” according to DE-PS 33 40 180 as simple and inexpensive as possible when this principle is transferred to extremely fine contact field grids.

In DE-GM 85 34 841.4 dated February 20, 1986, it is proposed to use rigid contourless test pins in the longitudinal direction without resilient contact tips, in particular when the printed circuit boards have connection densities in some areas which are greater than the average connection density in the basic grid of the contact field of the printed circuit board testing device, which one Has a basic grid of 1/10 inch. Since such rigid, contourless contact pins can be produced very easily and with a very small diameter, that is to say that contact densities can be tested which are at least in some areas smaller than the basic grid of the circuit board tester, without there being a serious risk of short circuits between the individual test pins. and since such contourless rigid test pins can be manufactured very inexpensively, it seems at first offer to use such rigid test pins also for PCB testing / contacting in a 1/20 inch grid. However, it must be noted here that with this known solution according to DE-GM 85 34 841.4 (flex adapter) a so-called "active basic grid" for the length compensation between all the rigid test pins used and thus for the reliable contacting of all these test pins with the test objects such as printed circuit boards, Ceramic wiring carriers or flexible circuit boards has to provide. Such length compensation is necessary to compensate for a possible bending of the rigid pins and a variable thickness of the printed circuit boards and to ensure good contact pressure. Such an active basic grid results from the fact that the resilient part of the contact pins is moved into the basic grid of the circuit board tester, which is done in the form that short small test pins are provided in the form of sleeves, one end of which is a contact tip and the other end is one Has inner cone, which is supported by a spring arranged in the sleeve and serves to receive one end of the rigid test pin. In the active basic grid according to DE-GM 85 34 841 there are therefore many short “test pins with inner cone” corresponding to the number of contact points provided in a suitable housing above the actual basic grid of the circuit board tester. The the fundamental problem of the relatively high production costs of such "test pins with an inner cone" is thus not eliminated - nor is it not that such sleeve-shaped test pins with a compression spring arranged therein can be reduced very difficultly, if at all, to diameters of the order of 0.8 mm, if, with such thin and therefore weak springs, a still sufficient contact pressure should be permitted, especially since the wall thickness of the sleeve cannot be reduced to below 0.2 mm for reasons of material strength. Ultimately, there would also be considerable problems in realizing such a tightly packed "active basic grid" for a 1/20 inch contact point grid.

FR-A-959460 (Appert) shows the construction of a contact plug, in which a contact pin is inserted into a conically wound contact spring which is arranged in a blind hole of a plug body and at its beginning and end with the aid of screws in the blind hole is fixed. Such termination techniques are only economically viable with a few and also relatively large contact plugs.

It is therefore the object on which the present invention is based to improve the type of contacting of the contacts of a circuit board to be tested with the contact point grid of the LP test device in such a way that even with an extremely fine contact point grid of 1/20 inch (1.27 mm) or significantly below, neither from the cost side nor from the strength side arise problems as shown above.

This object is achieved by the features of claim 1. By providing the compression springs themselves for receiving the rigid test pins and designing them accordingly, it is possible despite the required miniaturization to provide a functioning contact field grid that can be produced at tolerable costs.

Manufacture of the spring contact field body from ceramic or plastic is particularly advantageous insofar as manufacturing techniques can be used which allow a particular dimensional accuracy. The manufacture of the spring contact field body is particularly facilitated by the fact that it is made up of smaller sections that can be arranged or joined together.

In order to make the portion of the total contact pressure available per compression spring as effective as possible for producing a reliable contact, it can be particularly advantageous to wind one or both ends of the compression springs in such a way that a pin-like or cone-like shape is provided there .

Furthermore, it can be advantageous to wind one or both ends of the compression springs in such a way that an inner cone is formed for directly receiving a test or contact pin. As a result, these pins then have a secure hold directly on the compression spring.

For a particularly good guidance of the compression springs in their To reach holes, they can have adjacent turns of maximum diameter in their end regions. To further improve the mechanical stability of the compression springs, all adjacent turns of the compression springs can be mechanically connected to one another, which is done, for example, by electrodeposition of a metal on the compression springs, which are usually made of spring steel. As a result, the adjacent turns of the compression spring will "grow together". Covering the end sections of the compression springs with a special contact material - possibly also by galvanic deposition - can contribute to a considerable reduction in the contact resistance.

In particular, if the spring contact field body receiving or guiding the compression springs in bores is made up of smaller segments which can be joined together in a grid, it has proven to be particularly advantageous to apply them to a supporting part which is designed as a nail board-like plug and is used to derive the applied pressure and accordingly in PCB tester is supported.

If this connector is relatively large in relation to the segments of the spring contact field body which can be joined in a grid, it can ensure good cohesion between the individual segments.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It shows:
Figure 1 is an overview of the basic structure of a - but not fully shown - PCB testing device, which is constructed according to the present invention.
Figure 2 is a side or plan view of a so-called driver plate with the nail board connector arranged at the upper end, which is supported on mounting rails.
3 shows a partial enlargement of the contact according to the invention between the driver plate (the test electronics) and the rigid test pins; and
4a, b, c different alternatives of the design of the compression springs in the spring contact field body.

In Fig. 1, the arrangement and support of the individual components is shown in a basic representation, which together form the contact field 2 with the individual, for example up to about 265,000 contact field points 4, the test pins 6 with the to be tested Wiring carrier / circuit board 8 are connectable. Each 4 × 32 contact field points 4 are assigned to a nail board-like contact field connector 10, which sits at the upper end of a so-called driver plate 12, which carries the electronic components that contribute to the electronic testing of the 4 × 32 = 128 contact points of a contact field connector 10. At the lower end of this driver plate 12, contact plugs, not shown, are provided, which connect each of the up to 2,000 driver plates 12 (contact field modules) to an electronic control and measuring device, which is arranged in the lower part of the test device (not shown) and is not described in more detail here is received. As can be seen from Fig. 2, each nail board-like contact field connector 10 rests at its two front ends on supporting parts 14 which are formed by upright arranged plates which derive the very considerable contact pressure on the frame 16 of the circuit board tester: Because when testing circuit boards 8 To generate a reliable contact, a contact pressure of approx. 1.23N (125 p) must be generated per contact 4, with a maximum of 256,000 contacts mentioned, the total force is 0.31.10⁶N, which corresponds to a weight of approx. 32 t, that must be derived via these support members 14.

The contact field connector 10 consisting of an electrically non-conductive material such as plastic or ceramic has on its upper end face, for example, 4 × 32 = 128 vertically upward-pointing contact pins 18, each of which has a diameter of the order of 0.8 mm and are, for example, 2.5 mm high. These contact pins 18 of the contact field connector 10 continue inside the same in lines 20, each of which is connected to a connection point 22 on the printed circuit of the driver board 12 and thus the electrical connection to the electronic components 24 (only one is shown) on the driver board 12 manufactures that are part of the test circuit of the circuit board tester. Each of the contact pins 18 projects into a bore 25 of a spring contact field body 26, which contains a contact spring 28 made of electrically conductive material and essentially fills this bore 25. In the preferred embodiment of FIG. 3 shown, the spring contact body 26 consists of numerous strips, each with a row of holes therein (according to the arrangement of the contact pins), but it is obvious that they are not strip-shaped bodies with only one row Bores 25 must act, but it is equally possible to provide several or many rows of holes in a correspondingly larger spring contact field body 26, since the size of the subdivision of these spring contact field bodies is itself only dependent on the cheapest manufacture of such bodies: At the moment However, because of the more precise manufacturability, such bodies are preferred as strips with only one row of bores, these strips being able to be arranged in the longitudinal direction (FIG. 3) or also in the transverse direction (not shown) on the contact field plugs 10, ie in the latter case they extend just over the width of the contact field connector 10. The strips are about 50 mm high and 1.27 mm wide. The holes in it have a diameter of approx. 0.8 mm and the distance from hole to hole is 1.27 mm according to the pitch of the contact points.

The spring contact field body 26 is plugged onto the nail board-like contact field connector 10. In each thus closed from below by a contact pin 18 bore 25, a specially designed compression spring 28 is used, which completely fills this bore, that is, the turns of the compression spring are in the resilient part of the same directly against the walls of the bore, so that despite the confined spaces compression springs with the largest possible diameter can be used.

The front ends 30, 31 of the compression springs 28, which are only shown in principle in FIG. 3, are in a special way for direct contact with the contact pin 18 of the nail board-like Contact field connector 10 and the rigid test pin 6 configured. According to FIG. 4a, the compression spring 28 is wound at both end ends, ie outwards from the resilient part 32, which has turns which are spaced apart from one another, with turns which lie in the longitudinal direction and which taper in diameter to form an inner cone in the winding direction of the spring and then widen again . In this way, an inner cone 34 for receiving the tips of the contact pin 18 or the test pin 6 is formed on both ends of this compression spring. These compression springs 28, which are wound from a spring steel, can preferably be coated with a suitable contact material by means of galvanic deposition, the windings lying against one another being able to “grow together” at the front ends.

An alternative form of contacting can be seen from FIG. 4b. The compression spring is designed identically in its upper area for engagement with the test pin 6, that is to say it has an inner cone 34 which has been wound as described above, while the opposite end is wound with a pin 36 which tapers like a pin, the individual windings 33 of which in turn abut one another. This pin-like approach protrudes into, for example, a conical or cup-shaped depression in the contact field connector 10, this depression being a An alternative to the contact pins 18 described above can be seen.

4c shows a further alternative embodiment of the compression spring: that end of the compression spring 28 which faces the contact field plug or the driver plate is provided with a tongue part 42 which extends in the longitudinal direction of the compression spring and which extends directly to the associated contact point on the surface the driver plate 12 extends. This means that the contact field plug only has to be provided with appropriately positioned thin bores 44 through which these contact tongues 42 are inserted when the contact field is being set up. The end of the compression spring 28 facing the test pin 6 is also wound in this case such that an inner cone 34 is formed from turns of the compression spring lying against one another in the longitudinal direction.

It is obvious that the particular type of contacting of the test pins 6, which are rigid in the longitudinal direction, via contact points designed as compression springs (spiral springs) according to the invention can also be used just as well in circuit board testers which are provided with a hard-wired contact point grid, that is to say have no contact field modules, which are identical to each other and in relation to the respective places on the Base plate are interchangeable. Nevertheless, the present invention is particularly valuable with this last-mentioned concept, since it, like the present invention, essentially aims to greatly reduce the costs incurred for contacting the circuit board / wiring carrier to be tested.

REFERENCE SIGN LIST

2 contact field
4 contact field points
6 test pins
8 circuit board
10 contact field plug (nail board)
12 driver plate
14 supporting parts
16 frame
18 contact pins
20 lines
22 connection point
24 electr. Components
26 spring contact field body
28 contact spring / compression spring
30 front ends of the compression spring
31 front ends of the compression spring
32 resilient part of the compression spring
33 turns of the compression spring
34 inner cone
36 pen-like approach
42 tongue part
44 holes

Claims (10)

1. Printed circuit board test device with a number of contact points (4) arranged in the plane of the contact panel (2) of the device, which are connected to an electronic control and measuring device and which can be connected to the contact points of the printed conductors of the circuit boards (8) being tested, via rigid test probes (6) arranged in the longitudinal direction, whereby the contact points (4) in the printed circuit test device are supported against the applied contact pressure by electrically-conducting compression springs (28) which are located in holes (25) of a spring contact panel (26) of electrically-insulating material, and on which the rigid test probes (6) are directly supported, characterised in that the compression springs (28) are placed in the spring contact panel (26) with their centre section in direct contact with the walls of the holes (25), whereby in the longitudinal direction of the compression springs they have adjacent windings (33), the diameter of whose spring coils is a maximum in the end regions (30, 31) to provide stable control in the spring contact panel (26), and that at least one end (30, 31) the compression springs (28) take the form of an internal cone (34) to directly take a test probe (6) or one end of a contact pin (18) for connection to the test circuit of the printed circuit board test device, said cone resulting from a reduction and then an enlargement of the diameter of adjacent windings (33) of the spring coil.
2. Printed circuit board test device with a number of contact points (4) arranged in the plane of the contact panel (2) of the device, which are connected to an electronic control and measuring device and which can be connected to the contact points of the printed conductors of the circuit boards (8) being tested via rigid test probes (6) arranged in the longitudinal direction, whereby the contact points (4) in the printed circuit test device are supported against the applied contact pressure by electrically-conducting compression springs (28) which are located in holes (25) of a spring contact panel (26) of electrically-insulating material, and on which the rigid test probes (6) are directly supported, characterised in that the compression springs (28) are placed in the spring contact panel (26) with their centre section in direct contact with the walls of the holes (25), whereby in the longitudinal direction of the compression springs they have adjacent windings (33), the diameter of whose spring coils is a maximum in the end regions (30, 31) to provide stable control in the spring contact panel (26), and that at least one end (30, 31) the compression springs (28) have a pin-like or cone-like shape (36) for direct contact with an internal cone or other contact surface, said pin-like or cone-like shape resulting from a stepped and/or continuous reduction of the diameter of adjacent windings (33) of the spring coil.
3. Device according to one of the above claims, characterised in that the adjacent windings of the compression springs are interconnected mechanically, for instance by electrodeposition of a metal.
4. Device according to one of the above claims, characterised in that the end regions (30, 31) of the compression springs are coated with a special contact material to improve contact.
5. Device according to one of the above claims, characterised in that a driver board (12) used as a support for the electronic components (24) required for control, carries a studded contact panel connector (10) on its front end, which is located at the end of the spring contact panel (26) opposite the test probes, and in addition to making electrical contact with the compression springs (28), is also used to distribute force to the support sections (14, 16) in the printed circuit test device.
6. Device according to one of the above claims, characterised in that the spring contact panel (26) is made from ceramic or plastic.
7. Device according to one of the above claims, characterised in that the spring contact panel (26) is constructed from matrix-type segments which can be attached and joined together.
8. Device according to claim 7, characterised in that a solid section of contact panel, that can be withdrawn and replaced as a complete unit, is formed by inserting the contact pins (18) of one or more contact panel connectors (10) into the holes (25) or one or more segments of the spring contact panel (26).
9. Device according to claim 8, characterised in that the end of the compression spring opposite the test probe (6) has a spring contact tab (42) extending away from the spring in the longitudinal direction, for direct connection to contact areas of the driver board (12) supporting the electronic components of the contact panel section.
10. Device according to one of the above claims, characterised in that areas of differing contact density are provided in the plane of the contact panel (2), which can be interchanged in accordance with the requirements of the printed circuit boards (8) being tested.

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